Global Business & Economy

NEW YORK: US consumer confidence unexpectedly rebounded strongly in March, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 101.3 from an upwardly revised 98.8 in February. Economists were looking for a reading of 96.0, according to a Reuters poll.The February figure was originally reported as 96.4.Copyright Reuters, 2015 ...

OTTAWA: The Canadian economy shrank less than foreseen in January, Statistics Canada data showed on Tuesday, a report that reinforced economists' expectations that the central bank will hold interest rates steady in April.Gross domestic product fell by 0.1 percent in the first month of the year as a rebound in oil and gas extraction offset service-sector weakness. That was shy of the decline of 0.2 percent that economists had expected, but it was still the ...

BRASILIA: Brazil posted an unexpected primary budget deficit of 2.3 billion reais ($721 million) in February, central bank data showed on Tuesday, highlighting the challenges the government faces in achieving its closely watched fiscal goal this year.The primary budget, or savings before debt payments, serves as a gauge of the country's capacity to repay its debt. It had been expected to show a surplus of 1.5 billion reais in February, according to the median forecast ...

FRANKFURT: German unemployment fell in March to the lowest level since the country reunited in 1990 as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy continues to pick up speed, data showed on Tuesday. The number of people registered as unemployed in Germany fell by a seasonally-adjusted 15,000 to 2.798 million in February, the Federal Labour Office said. That was steeper than expected, as analysts had been pencilling in a decline of around 10,000.The unemployment rate -- ...

LONDON: Britain's economy grew faster than expected in the final quarter of last year, revised official data revealed Tuesday.Gross domestic product expanded by 0.6 percent in the last three months of 2014, up from a previous estimate of 0.5 percent, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.GDP for last year reached 2.8 percent, higher than the previous reading of 2.6 percent, the ONS added. At 2.8 percent, Britain still grew at the fastest ...

ROME: Italy's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly in February to 12.7 percent from 12.6 percent the previous month, data showed on Tuesday.February's figure was marginally above the median forecast of 12.6 percent in a Reuters survey of 11 analysts.The overall employment rate was 55.7 percent compared with 55.8 percent in January.Italy has been struggling to emerge from a prolonged recession and unemployment has been rising steadily since early 2011, when it was below 8 ...

BRUSSELS: Euro zone consumer prices eased year-on-year in March as expected, data showed on Tuesday, but the decline was small, indicating price declines bottomed out already in January and could start rising again soon.The European Union's statistics office Eurostat estimated that consumer prices in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell 0.1 percent year-on-year this month, compared with a 0.3 percent drop in February and a 0.6 percent fall in January.As in previous months, the ...